Hey gang, i just took on a cat that's about 1 year old (maybe a couple months more..). She's 10 pounds, but very active. she does have a solid frame so i dont think she's necessarily over weight.

my question is two fold..

a. how much food should i be feeding her per day. as it is today, she always has hard food on the floor but she only picks at it here and there. she mostly eats her soft food. i give her one (small can) of fancy feast - cod, sole and shrimp in the morning, and i give her one small can when i get home from work around 5pm.

b. what is the best food to give her? (soft vs hard) and brand names. i dont mind paying a bit more if it's going to keep her healthy. are there any brands to just plain stay away from?

Raw is better than canned and canned is better than hard. However there are many different qualities of canned food. Cats are carnivores and should be eating high quality protein food that are grain free. Cats normally get their water from their food so cats who are on dry can be chronically dehydrated. These foods are only available in pet food stores, not the grocery store.

The only thing about Fancy Feast is that it is extremely expensive. Depending on where you live, you could be paying probably .65$ for I think it's a 3.5oz can. I buy by the pound because I have 9 cats+ foster kittens here and there. I buy the big 14oz cans for about 1.29-1.49 a can depending on the flavour.

So you are paying 2.92 per pound vs aprx 1.58 per pound for something like Innova Evo. So in the long run, Fancy Feast is a bit overrated and costs a lot more money to feed.

If your cat likes different flavours, I recommend things by Merrick. They have about 10+ flavours of canned food that my cats enjoy very much. They cost a bit more at 3.17 per pound though average. But with that, you can buy the cheap stuff like Innova Evo, and put that on the plate first and then put the flavourful stuff by Merrick on top. That's how I do it.

Fancy Feast has a bit of mystery meat in it anyways. Here is the one you are currently feeding:

We don't know what kind of animal the liver or by products came from. Artificial flavours aren't really cool at all. I avoid them myself and wouldn't want to feed my cats anything I wouldn't eat (besides the fact I'm a vegetarian but you get the idea)